Babylon's Burning
by Ruts

Album: The Crack (1979)
Charted: 7
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Songfacts®:

  • This single captured the mood of the time, as riots swept Britain in the summer of 1979. "Babylon's Burning" is about the fiery collapse of western civilization.
  • The Ruts were heavily involved in anti-racism causes and Southall born lead singer Malcolm Owen was particularly affected by the race riots in his hometown in April 1979. Another song on the album, "Jah War," is about those riots.
  • This was featured in the 1980 film Times Square.
  • This was The Ruts biggest hit and they never recovered from the death of Malcolm Owen from a heroin overdose the following year.
  • Babylon's burning
    You're burning the street
    You're burning your houses
    With anxiety


    Malcolm Owen's warning about social unrest employs Rastafarian slang. "Babylon was a much-used word in Rasta culture, referring to Western decadence and it did seem, as far as youth were concerned, that it was all burning," drummer David Ruffy told Uncut magazine. "It was almost like the folk tradition, singing about what was going on."
  • The song originated with the bass riff. "I wasn't a great bass player - I didn't do scales because I couldn't. But I did this run as an annoying warm up," bassist John "Segs" Jennings told Uncut. "We went to do some demos, I think in High Wycombe, and [guitarist Paul] Foxy seized on that 'da-da-da-da-da-da' run and took it somewhere. Malcolm started singing '...With anxiety' and there you go."
  • Producer Mick Glossop added the sound effects of clanging bells and wailing police sirens.

Comments: 1

  • Stephen Brown from Newcastle-under-lymeI knew Malcolm Owen, before the band took shape. We met in Northwich Cheshire. He was visiting friends in Barnton from London. Mell and Jan their daughter Zoe who had moved away from London to bring up their daughter. He invited me round, visitors would turn up from all over Britain. One place that was a favourite place for us all was a Farm on Anglesey in North Wales near Llandeussant. Another two properties near Tregaian where rented at this time. I was 14 at the time and Malcolm was just getting together with Rocky. A few from the area Carron Lawrence and I and Norman Bull, David Lightfoot would all hand out, I was taught to play the guitar and the saxophone, there were musical instruments of all kinds around. Sometimes we had jamming sessions depending on who was about at the time. At the age of 18 I would travel all over from London to Anglesey to Manchester, Bristol. It was in London that the band came together, the money was got together by means that I can not put down here. India was involved, and money was lost in getting a friend back from India, as a bribe. There is more I could tell concerning the lives of those associated with the startup of the band, how they got to number one, and what happened to achieve this.
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